So you've put the word out you're lookin' for a new scoot to build and you've told everyone to keep their eyes open for a rigid Panhead project. The phone rings and a friend from out of state calls and said he's found a pretty decent '59 FL, do you want it? Sure. Your buddy gives the bike the once over twice, picks it up, and awaits your arrival to haul her back home and start tearing into it.
Sounds like a typical way to start building a chopper, right? Josh Conley from Chino, California thought so. The only rub was, after he picked the bike up from Love Cycles in Phoenix, he was T-boned at a three-way stop sign. The van rolled and the perfect wishbone frame was bent along with plenty of other things as the bike was tossed around in the van like dice in a Yatzee cup. Not only that, his co-pilot Shawn wound up with a broken back!
After starting an insurance claim nightmare-his insurance company says there's no proof the bike was even in the van-that has yet to close after a few years, Josh said to hell with it and tore the bike apart to have his way with it. He fixed the '52 Pan frame and started assembling the parts he wanted to use for the rebuild. He swapped the drum brake Wide Glide frontend for a 3-under K Model unit, complete with a drum brake that was Swiss cheesed and laced to a high shouldered, narrow Akront 21-inch rim. In the rear the 16-incher and old PM brake setup was given to a friend in favor of an 18-inch Akront and an early '60s H-D juice drum and chrome star hub. Josh began the fab work on the hand and foot controls, which were a bit of a challenge and a bet. He wanted to prove that an internal twist clutch could work with an early four speed trans. With this in mind he also incorporated an internal throttle on the custom built handle- bars for one noodle-scratchin' setup. Josh also set up a small reverse heel shifter that comes through the early tin primary and enclosed Primo belt drive/clutch assembly-making for tidy and unobtrusive controls both top and bottom.
The drivetrain is pretty much as the Factory intended back in 1959. The S&S Super E, Cycle Electrics generator, Andrews cam, and magneto are about the only deviations. The engine remains 74ci and the '59 ratchet top four-speed still wears an early kicker cover and one-piece kick arm. Above the gear box is a chrome H-D horseshoe oil tank without a battery in it. Josh made the tight and short shotgun pipes as well as the sissy bar to help mount the non-ribbed British fender. The sissy bar/fender mounts house two small, but bright LED taillights in brass cups fed by cloth cover wire.
To go with the anything but fat rear fender and K Model frontend, Josh narrowed a stock Sportster tank just enough and swapped the stock cap for a smaller British 2-inch unit. Once he was happy with the tins, he sent them to Oakland, California so Max Schaaf could put down Oriental Blue panels over pearl white fog base. Max pinstriped the panels in Gold Pearl and Spanish Gold and dubbed the bike the Jihad pan since it almost died in the attack on its way home from Arizona.
Josh and the guys at the Chino Fab shop have had plenty of road time together with the Jihad pan since it was done just in time to debut it at the Born-Free show. Not content with just a few nice bikes, Josh is already looking for a Knuckle basket...